There has been continuing interest in the apparel industry to develop bras that provide a supporting and lifting effect to the bust in front while ensuring proper overall breast and muscle health in the upper body. Women wear bras to protect the breasts and maintain the shape of the breasts. A good bra is supposed to be comfortable, aesthetic, and capable of adjusting the shape of a woman's breasts. Many women dislike the appearance and size of their breasts, especially when confronted with images showing what is regarded as an ideal. Not surprisingly, women desire to have a figure that matches the ideal, whether they perceive their breasts are too small or large.
Bra pads, molded cups and three dimension bra cups have been used to provide enhancement to small breasts. On the other hand, large breasts may cause self consciousness, discomfort or adversely affect posture and cause back ache. Breast surgery has been proposed and provides solution for particularly problematic cases. But this is a drastic solution and carries medical risks. Therefore, reinforced support bras have been developed but these bras create compression, pressure and confinement for the breasts, and there is emerging evidence that this may be harmful for the breasts.
Breast Health and Bras
Bras have been designed to provide comfort and address health issues. For example, bras intended to provide a massaging function or ventilation were described. The following are prior patents showing the state of the art that pertains partly to the invention at hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,578 to Lin et. al., describes a bra lining mounted in a bra and includes a sealed main body containing thick oil and gold foils therein. The oil flows inside the main body to provide a massaging effect while the gold foils increase magnetic energy around the breasts to activate the cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,316 to Jain, describes a bra body made of silicone rubber and includes a reinforcing rib, a rear member mounted to the inside of the body, and includes protrusions which are in contact with the breast for massaging the breast, while the gaps between the protrusions create ventilation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,917 to Rose et. Al., describes a therapeutic bra constructed of a one piece directional elastic material, self forming cups and emanating from the apex of each cup shoulder straps that pass over the shoulder to the opposite side of the bra. The main purpose of the bra is to provide support for the breasts without constriction and to create a natural lift. Fasteners are placed at the lateral sides of the bra, which is a disadvantage, and this design does not provide adequate support in the cups and is prone to cause the bra to ride up.
For women who operate computers an electromagnetic wave proof cut structure for bra has been designed for protecting the breasts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,647 to Huang, describes an electromagnetic wave proof cup structure for a bra including a first layer, a second layer and an intermediate layer joined to the first and the second layers. The intermediate layer contains metallic fiber so as to screen the electromagnetic wave and the contact area between the breast and the bra to reduce effects of electromagnetic waves.
October is the Breast Cancer Awareness month and in 2007, women of all ages and background advocated pitching their bras for health reasons. Needless to say, such action is likely to raise social issues and eyebrows. This is because there is a growing body of evidence that bra-wearing can have significant impact on breast health. In a study of 4500 women in five cities in the United States, it was found that women who wore a bra 24 hours a day had a 3 out of 4 (75%) chance of developing breast cancer. Women who wore a bra for more than twelve hours a day, but did not wear one to bed, had a one out of seven (14%) chance of developing breast cancer. Women who wore a bra less than twelve hours a day had a one in fifty two (2%) chance of developing breast cancer. Women who rarely wore a bra had a (0.6%) chance of developing breast cancer (“Dressed to Kill, ed. Sydney Ross Sinder and Soma Grismaijer). Several theories have been proposed to explain the link of increased risk of breast cancer and duration of wearing bras.
Tight fitting bras restrict and compress the lymphatic system in the breast. The Lymphatic system is responsible for flushing out bodily wastes and toxins and this could become impeded with compression. Thus the lymph nodes, acupressure points, and the circulatory pathways in the breast and arm pit areas, may be restricted and prevented from doing their job by tight fitting bras, and may result in toxins to accumulate in the breast tissue.
There is a mistaken belief that wearing a tight bra strengthens the breasts and prevents their eventual sagging because the sagging is related to the proportion of fat and tissue in the breast tissue and no bra can change that.
Bras can cause breasts to sag because chest muscles work less when breasts are supported and compressed in a bra and overtime the muscles and ligaments atrophy because of lack of use.
There is evidence that exercise may have a beneficial effect in reducing the risk for breast cancer. Women of all ages do isometric upper body exercises using weights just so to activate the chest, lateral and back muscles and firm up the breasts and strengthen the back, while reducing back pain. Many women report a decrease in headaches and neck pain after doing such exercises and/or reducing their bra-wearing time. Unfortunately, many women cannot incorporate an upper body exercise regimen in their daily routine. Furthermore, pitching the bras totally may not be an option for most, and reducing the bra-wearing time each day may not be practical, and even if practical, would continue the risk exposure during the bra-wearing time. A need exists for a bra that overcomes the disadvantages of the various bras described in the prior art. There is therefore a need for a bra with smart cups that allows the breasts to be projected, lifted up and supported by ergonomically constructed side and back support frame lying over the chest, lateral and back muscles in a non-restrictive, dynamic and naturally healthy way, while at the same time is aesthetically pleasing and has a modern silhouette.
The above disadvantages have been overcome in the present invention. The present invention relates to smart combo cups built into a sling of breast support and a wireless ergonomically designed bra that allows the breasts to be projected and lifted by a dynamic bra construction for the breasts to be supported by the chest, lateral and back muscles, and said ergonomic dynamic bra does not compress the lymphatic system but increases the lymphatic flow through interactive motion of the upper body. Importantly, the ergonomic dynamic bra with the smart combo cups of the present invention is not only aesthetically pleasing and naturally comfortable, but also fits the ideal image of any figure.